Helping Hands
by thecolorofmagic
Summary: A short Oneshot about Lily and James written for the oneshot chalange


**Helping Hands**

James Potter, the most selfish, big headed, arrogant, flea-bag to ever walk the walls of Hogwarts, and from day one I hated every ounce of his being. Who wouldn't, he walked around like he owned the place and made fun of my only friend. But I will never forget the day I reconsidered my thoughts on him, the day I fell in love.

All good love stories start in the cold, and this is no exception. I was walking to Hogsmead with a few of my friends, the air was cold and dry, and snow was swirling down in fat lazy flakes. We were just headed to Hogshead for some butter beer when James and his lackeys ran up behind us. "Lily!" He shouted at me. "Are you planning to go to Hogshead, we could come with you." He reached over and brushed some snow off my shoulder, and I flinched away.

"Sorry, not this time James. We were headed over to the sweet shop and maybe to get some more quills and parchment." I started walking away before I had finished my explanation. With one last questioning glance at James and back to me, my friends followed.

"Why didn't you except his invitation? I know that if I had James Potter on my tail I would gladly say yes. What don't you see in him?" Kate started interrogating me the second we left James and his cronies in the dust.

"I… I don't know. It's not that I HATE, hate him, I just… he can be annoying sometimes, and I don't want to know him any better than I already do." Kate bore holes into my skull with her gaze as I spat out my feeble explanation.

"Still, you shouldn't be so mean to him." She said as we walked into Honeyduke's "Words like that can really hurt a guy if they like you." I looked around the shelves until I found the jar of free sweets. "And besides," I put one in my mouth, trying to decide the flavour. "You shouldn't be avoiding him if you like him back." That simple statement made my eyes go wide, and I started choking on my candy in the rush to deny it and couldn't defend myself. "Don't say you don't" Kate said to me through my spluttering. "You flirt like a five year old. And anyways, your diary begs to differ."

"You read my diary!?" I finally managed to get a full breath of air and the argument was on.

"Of course I haven't, but you just admitted you liked him right there." I looked at Kate like she had grown a second head. She obviously sensed my confusion because she proceeded to explain. "I said that your diary confesses your undying love for James Potter," My face was growing redder by the second and I was trying to burn holes in her skull with only sheer force of will. "And you said 'You read that?' Meaning that your diary does say you like James and that's how I found out, therefore you should go out with him."

I turned on my heels and stormed out of the store. But in the back corner of my mind I kept thinking "_Why not? Why can't I like James? There is nothing wrong with it, it's not like it's been forbidden or anything. But what will everyone think? In a way it is forbidden, Lily and James secretly in love, the world to never know-"_

My thoughts were cut short when I found myself sitting stunned in the snow in front of Hogshead. My face hurt, and as I looked around I realized that I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I walked straight into the opening door and was knocked over. My nose was bleeding so I decided to call this Hogsmead trip over.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Madam Pomfrey was shocked to see me with a bloody nose; I had never been to the hospital wing before. She made me stay for a good 2 hours to make sure the bleeding fully stopped. As I was sitting on my bed waiting, who else struts in but James Potter? He looked a bit worse for the wear, and I'm not a medical expert, but I don't think arms are supposed to bend like that. He was healed in almost an instant but insisted on staying, he claiming that the pain wasn't fully gone yet.

He took the bed next to mine, lounged back, and said, "I've never seen you here before; I thought you were too well behaved to end up in the hospital wing."

"Never under estimate me, James Potter." I shot back. "But you're right. I slammed my face into the door at Hogshead and got a pretty nasty nosebleed."

He thought for a while before saying, "You know, when a boy slams a door in your face it means he likes you." I just stared at him with a slightly open mouth. He took this opportunity to switch beds, and now he was sitting on the side of mine. I sat up and moved to the side of the bed so I was sitting next to him, my legs hanging off the side.

"Lily," He continued, "I'm confused. All those hurtful, cruel words you say to me… and you act like you hate me, but then you go and are kind and smart and you seem to care about me so I tell you I like you, but then you run away. What's wrong?"

I wasn't sure how to answer. How do you tell a guy you like him because you hated him? I slid my hand on top of his and looked to his face, not knowing what to say. As it turns out I didn't need to say anything because as soon as I looked at him he kissed me. All too soon it was over and I was stuck still looking at James's face.

"I'm surprised." He stated. "You're actually pretty good at that."

I stared him right in the eye, refusing to be embarrassed and said, "Like I said earlier, James, never under estimate me." He leaned in and kissed me again.


End file.
